University of Rhode Island opens inaugural National Intercollegiate Rifle League season with decisive team win; Georgia Military College’s Sookhoo tops individual field

The University of Rhode Island set the pace in the inaugural game of the 2025 - 2026 National Intercollegiate Rifle League, posting a 2208.9–1797.9 team victory over Georgia Military College and taking the early lead in the national standings. URI led at every stage of the 60-shot standing air rifle match and closed out the opener with a 411.0-point cushion.

Game 1 Recap — Team Event

Rhode Island’s depth carried the day in the league’s first contest, with top-four scorers combining for 2208.9 points. Sophia Wood paced the Rams with a 608.2 to lead a contributing quartet that included Emily Lopez, Alex Travison and Glen Sleckowski. Rhode Island is coached by David Wood.

Lead by coach Lisa Kelly, GA Military College finished second in the game. Despite competing shorthanded with only three shooters, the Bulldogs were powered by a standout performance from MacKenzie Sookhoo, whose 617.2 was the top individual score of the match. Teammates Cheyenne Malone and Skylar Sanford rounded out GMC’s scoring.

URI controlled the match wire-to-wire, opening a 67.6-point margin after Stage 1 and steadily extending it to 126.1 (Stage 2), 199.3 (Stage 3), 271.6 (Stage 4), 334.6 (Stage 5) and 411.0 by Stage 6.

Individual Event Highlights

Sookhoo (Georgia Military College) claimed the individual title at 617.2, finishing ahead of Rhode Island’s Sophia Wood (608.2) and GMC’s Cheyenne Malone (591.0). Sookhoo set the tone early and never trailed, edging Wood by 0.9 after Stage 1 and widening the gap as the match progressed. Only in the fourth stage did Wood close the gap slightly. Sookhoo roared back in the fifth and sixth stages and finished with a 9.0 point lead. Malone maintained third throughout and closed 26.2 back of the winner.

Current Rankings After Game 1

No. 1 — University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI), Team average: 2208.9.

No. 2 — Georgia Military College (Milledgeville, GA), Team average: 1797.9.

League Format and Schedule

The National Intercollegiate Rifle League is a national team league for collegiate rifle clubs. Each athlete fires 60 shots scored in decimal; the team score is the sum of the top four shooters. The regular season features two parts — four games in the fall and four in the winter/spring — with competitions held every two weeks. The top three teams in the overall standings at season’s end will receive awards.

Teams now turn their attention to Game 2, which will be contested over the next two weeks as the league’s biweekly schedule continues. The clubs are eager to build on the opener and carry momentum into the remainder of the first leg of the inaugural season.

This press release was in part generated by artificial intelligence maintained by Scopos LLC.